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Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) President John F. Kennedy was asked the following question at his news conference at the State Department today:

“Mr. President: Sir, would you tell us what the Monroe Doctrine means to you today in light of conditions…in Cuba?”

The President, who has received daily briefings for several weeks about an increasing Soviet presence in Cuba, responded:

“The Monroe Doctrine means….that we would oppose a foreign power extending its power to the Western Hemisphere & that is why we oppose what is happening in Cuba today. That is why we have cut off our trade. That is why we will continue to give a good deal of our effort & attention to it.”*

*The Monroe Doctrine (1823) stated that efforts by European nations to colonize or interfere in the Western Hemisphere would be viewed by the United States as acts of aggression.

JFK would be shown U2 photographs in October 1962 that proved the Soviets were in the process of placing nuclear missiles in Cuba which was the beginning of the “Missile Crisis”.

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) New England poet Robert Frost left the United States today for a goodwill tour of the Soviet Union sponsored by the State Department.

Mr. Frost, who recited a poem at JFK’s Inauguration, will give poetry readings, interviews & lectures while touring the USSR.*

*During the tour, Frost came down with “nervous indigestion” but was still able to meet with Premier Nikita Khrushchev for 90 minutes. Mr. Frost told Khrushchev: “A great nation makes great poetry & great poetry makes a nation.”

Robert Frost (left) on USSR Tour

August 29, 1968

HUMPHREY WINS DEMO NOMINATION

Chicago, Illinois (JFK+50) Vice President Hubert Horatio Humphrey was nominated by the delegates of the 1968 Democratic National Convention today here in Chicago.

The convention has been one of the most divisive & violent in history over the war in Vietnam.

Vice-President Humphrey supports President Lyndon B. Johnson’s policy in Vietnam while others in the party oppose it.

Student protesters have let their voices be heard on the streets of Chicago while Mayor Richard Daley, a Humphrey supporter, has used the Chicago police force to attempt to control them.

Before becoming LBJs Vice-President in 1965, Humphrey had been a senator from Minnesota since 1948. Senator Humphrey was an advocate of civil rights, arms control, a nuclear test ban & foreign aid. He was known as “the Happy Warrior.”*

*3 years before JFK proposed the Peace Corps, Humphrey introduced a bill to create just such an agency. In 1960, he competed against JFK for the Democratic nomination for President.

Hubert Humphrey died in 1978.

Two of my favorite Hubert Humphrey quotations:

“Compassion is not weakness & concern for the unfortunate is not socialism.”

“It was once said that the moral test of government is how government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly, & those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy & the handicapped.”

Hubert H. Humphrey

“The Happy Warrior”

August 29, 1975

EAMON DE VALERA DIES AT AGE OF 92

Blackrock, County Dublin, Ireland (JFK+50) The former President of Ireland (1959-1973) & head of the government of the Irish Free State as well as the leader of Ireland’s struggle for independence from Great Britain, Eamon de Valera died today at the age of 92.

Eamon de Valera

(1882-1975)

De Valera, born in New York City in 1882, was brought to Ireland at the age of 2 by his uncle.

De Valera was host for President John F. Kennedy’s state visit to Ireland in June 1963.

Mr. De Valera will be buried in Dublin’s Glasnevin Cemetery.

Grave of Eamon de Valera

Dublin, Ireland

August 29, 1949

USSR EXPLODES A BOMB

Semipalatinsk, USSR (JFK+50) It has been said the only thing worse than one nation having the atomic bomb is two nations having it.

Today, the Soviet Union became the 2nd nation to have the atomic bomb. At a remote test site here in Semipalatinsk, the Soviets successfully detonated their 1st atomic bomb.

The explosion, rated at 20 kilotons, is roughly equal to that of the “Trinity” test explosion by the United States.*

*An American spy plane flying off the coast of Siberia picked up the 1st evidence of radioactivity from the explosion on September 3.